TASK: Choosing one of the poems you have not submitted either an intended meaning or a reflection on explore how Owen's use of poetic form (type of poem - sonnet, elegy etc...)and versification (stanza form, rhyme and rhythm) supports his intended meaning for that poem.
This should not be an essay - it is still a reflection (no longer than 500 words - some students wrote lengthy reflections and then some students thought they'd do the same, but ended up rambling semi-incoherently through large sections which adds more time to my reading and also means you're doing more work for little actual benefit).
However, I would like to see you using the paragraph structure given to you in lessons (if you don't you will asked to redraft it until you have).
This is the area where some of you have the greatest difficulty, hence why I have left it till towards the end of the unit. I'm quite happy to give guidance, but you'll need to find me at an appropriate time (making an appointment is the easiest)
Mr. D
23 comments:
Insensibility: Tim,
In stanza three Owen uses text that sounds biblical to maybe compliment his religious upbringing, and the use of dactyls emphasises an in the tone of the poem. Owen finds it insensibility, of men who have to survive in conditions so appalling that they might go mad. Owen recognises and gives full value to the toughness and self control of the soldiers who has lived through the horrors and found come mean of withstanding its full impact on the senses. He looks at them with pity from horrors they have to endure. Also looks down at the people at home who are unsure about the reality of war.
The poetic technique used in this poem is called an elegy. This is due to the reason that Owen has got across to us how serious the war is and as we read along we meditate in it in terms of imagining the appalling state they’ll be in. Owens preaching tone also lets us know his trying to get a point across to us and he wants us as a reader to take it serious.
Another technique used is pathos Owen has written this poem so it evokes sorrow and pities in our minds, the mood that Owen is at that moment prevails in the poem.
This is just a brief answer just to see if I'm on the right track. By the way have got an appointment at the hospital tomorrow so if am unable to come in i'll give ma sister my book so she can hand it in to you.
Tim,
Firstly, it doesn't use the suggested paragraph structure - so it can be full of appropriate detail, but if it's not in the correct structure you'll be asked to do it again...and again...
Secondly, you need to set up the intended meaning and show how the elements of form and versification support or contradict it - this is the essence of the task!
Wilfred Owen's Insensibility
In Insensibility Owen uses a Free verse structure to illustrate a poignant theme within his poem by giving more respect and acknowledgement towards the soldiers but also making pointed observations of those who criticized the soldiers and yet were enjoying the safety and comfort of home.
Stanzas one to six are numbered respectively as if to specifically instill a notion of importance; stanzas one to five deal with the soldiers and precede stanza six, which is in reference to those not at the front lines and experiencing the horrors of war.
The structural format that Owen uses of numbering the six stanzas, a tool he doesn’t similarly explore in our selected anthology, is significant as the poets’ inclination to do so has a symbolic meaning within it; placing the importance of the soldiers as first, and in a larger quantity at that, can be interpreted as marking respect for them and underlining their importance as opposed to the diminutive but very pointed and resounding argument towards the idle.
This unequivocal statement of importance made by Owen could have derived from the societal indifference towards some soldiers who may have had mental/physical illness brought about by war; this is illustrated in Insensibility in the lines “Their hearts remain small-drawn. Their senses in some scorching cautery of battle.”
The prevalent views towards those who have lost their senses, or in other words their minds, were of indifference and lacked any sympathy; Owen would have grown resentful of this view as he himself was a soldier and a sufferer of mental illness during the Great War and this angry tonality bleeds through his poetry. In stanza six the use if para-rhyme evokes a voice of anger and malice; emotions which he would have been feeling towards the idle and apathetic. “But cursed are dullards whom no cannon stuns,
That they should be as stones.”
Owen’s intended meaning within Insensibility is to make the positive and negative remarks towards the soldiers and those who didn’t, respectively, and the examples show that there is conclusive evidence to suggest that Owens use of versification and poetic form deals a negative view towards the idle and apathetic as opposed to his favored, respectful remarks towards the soldiers.
I think my evaluation and link are tied into the same sentence.
Adonis
Insensibility – Kirstie Churchill
In this poem you get a lack of warm feeling throughout it. Soldiers don’t know what war is about to they actually experience it. This poem also explores the psychological experience that the soldiers have to go through. There is some sense of the inevitability of death (soldier). The title ‘insensibility’ means unfeeling ness and the lack of sensibility.
Throughout the poem the rhythm is broken and the metre is irregular as its structure is – 6 stanzas of 11, 9, 12, 9, 10, 10 lines having irregular length. There are a lot of Para rhymes through this poem that create a downbeat feeling. Owen uses a lot of Para rhymes in his poems. The poem has unequal length and there is rarely a rhyme in the second stanza and also throughout the poem. The word ‘happy’ in the third stanza repeats itself as it was used in the first stanza also. The word ‘happy’ is sort of like a paradox because it contradicts itself. This is because the poem is a quite gloomy poem and the word ‘happy’ in the poem doesn’t really sound right because the men can’t be happy because they are in the war. ‘We’ in stanza 5 is in the first person but then it is converted to ‘he, his’. Owen is arguing a dichotomy between us whose thoughts of guilt. In evaluation to this, the poem explores different feelings and thoughts through versification.
Poetry Reflection – Arms and the Boy
Owens’s criticism in this poem is very strong; as the intended meaning of the poem is to deliberately criticize the artillery of the war and how that artillery is used to militarize soldiers at an early age. The particularities in the poem’s form and versification are used by the poet to reflect the intended meaning of the poem.
The form of the poem is not that of an elegy which you would expect of a poem that focuses on death heavily of young people. Instead the poem is quite sharp and pointed in its arguments and perhaps is not as flamboyant as many other poems created by Wilfred Owen that reflects death. Evident examples of this include the sharp feel that the poem has which is seen in Owen’s heavy use of imagery of killing. For example when in the poem it says “How Cold steel is, and ken with hunger of blood.” This immediately criticizes weaponry and the youth carrying them by personifying the weaponry but also suggests its eagerness to kill. This is very shocking to the reader and this sharp feeling and pointed strong argumentative form of the poem is reflected. This causes the reader to focus and consider more perhaps the meaning behind the poem which we know is a critical argument against artillery of the war and how that artillery is used to militarize soldiers at an early age. This is very effective and in comparison to many poems form here is used more effectively to portray the poets intended meaning. The last laugh for example is quite a relaxed flamboyant poem much less sharp comparatively to this poem, but form is used less effectively I believe to portray that poems intended meaning unlike in this poem. Form we can then justify has a significant role in the portrayal of the intended meaning of this poem. In relation to the question then, form supports this poem’s intended meaning well as it not only promotes it but also reflects it in its sharpness and pointed argumentative style.
Additionally versification is used to reflect the intended meaning of the poem. The poem in terms of stanza length is uniform. Each Stanza has 4 lines and this is called heroic verse. Also similar throughout the poem is the use of pentameter. The majority of the content in the poem is written in pentameter and this uniform structure is also resented through this. This uniform carefully designed structure of the poem is reflective of the intended meaning of the poem as arguments are required to be carefully structured to be taken seriously which is why Owen may have wrote the stanzas all in heroic verse like this. The versification in terms of syllable stresses is used toe emphasis particular argumentative words also. For example in the poem the word “Death” in the second stanza. The highlighting of these words portrays the argument in the intended meaning of the poem more to the reader and thus supports the argument with vocabulary content. This use of versification is used effectively when we compare this poem to others such as Mental Cases another poem where versification used to portray the intended meaning of the poem. We can then justifiably say that versification is used to support the argument in the intended meaning relation to the question effectively.
Carl Larkin - Anthem for Doomed Youth
In Anthem for Doomed Youth, Owen takes an approach that is targeted towards the critique of young men going to war. Throughout his poem he is trying to show how war isn’t glamorous as people from Britain say as it is often the women and profiteers that push the patriotic emotion into young men to join. Though there are only 2 stanzas, in both Owen has filled them both with dense amount images from being at war and is showing exactly why young men shouldn’t be aiming for ‘flagging’ up for war. The whole poem relates back to imagery of death such as ‘passing bells’ relating to the bells of a church, and ‘choirs’ in the last line of stanza one, again relating to the image of a church and that idea of inescapable death. This continues through the second stanza which can be linked to the reality of war that death and pain continued throughout the war.
Anthem for Doomed Youth is a sonnet, 14 lines spilt into a stanza of 8 and one of 6. A Sonnet is a little song in French. Anthem for Doomed Youth is a Patracian poem but has the rhyme scheme of a Shakespearian poem. This is interesting as usually the two are kept separate. The poem has an iambic pentameter. This has 10 syllables per line and has the natural English speech rhythm to it. A Patracian poem asks a question in the first line, and answers the raised question in the following context of the poem. The poem follows; A, B, A, B, C, D, C, D, E, F, E, F, G, G. At the end there is a rhyming couplet. This is where the two lines rhyme. This can be used to possibly emphasise an idea that the poet wants people of that time to reflect on.
The poem is also an elegy; poem for the dead. A poem for the dead is a slightly mad thing to think about, but that’s how Owen has developed the poem and through this we are able to link the title to the context of the poem being slightly mad for the young men to sign up for war. The end of the first line reads ‘who die as cattle?’ This is a strong piece of context as we know that cattle were slaughtered and didn’t die a nice death. Owen is emphasising the fact that the soldiers were slaughtered at war and tries to force that image to draw away the patriotic vies of them at home.
si i just though i would let you know that where the lines sort of finish early, thats the start if a new paragraph (3 in total) for some reason my word creats new lines that dont show up, hard to explain
Disabled. Bradley Simson
In the poem Disabled by Wilfred Owen the theme of pathos runs throughout which is re enforced by the structure of Owens stanzas. His form and versification help to make the reader feel either sympathy for the soldier or anger that the soldier entered himself in the war just to show off. The use of rhyme in the poem helps to carry the tone which Owen is trying to portray and also uses of half rhyme such in certain areas of the poem show that Owen is writing in a sad tone. This is effective as Owen himself had experienced first hand the dramatics of war and this poem may come from something he had witnessed with his own eyes. Use of iamb at the start of stanza two "About this time Town used to swing so gay" does emply a rise in rythem though it is talking about a Town which would be a lively place and is also a topic outside of Owens main feature in this poem which is the forthcoming disability/loss of limbs of a soldier he may or may not have known. Due to this use of iamb a slight pick up in pace and rythem does appear in places where it is due thought Owen does let his readers know extremely well when the pace is slow as 10 syllables occur in every line though rythem drops in certain areas such as in stanza one "and shivered in a ghastly suit of grey". This use of "ghastly" instantly slows down the rythem of the stanza as it is a word that drags as it is said. Overall the form and versification in this certain poem contributes well to the theme of pathos set by Owen as it does carry and create a tone which could provoke emotion from its readers, which I feel is owens intention for this poem.
In 'The last laugh', Owen presents the poem in a simple and consistent manner, with 3 stanzas all composed of 5 generally even lines; all of which are quite short, with the largest being pentameter. This compact structure supports the intense imagery and dynamic onomatopoeia Owen uses, as it acts as a quarantine for the powerful content of the poem. For example, the line ''Oh Jesus Christ! I'm hit,' he said; and died' is presented through pentameter, which generally does not compliment the significant event of death. However, through Owen compressing the death of a soldier into a mere pentameter line, it creates the impression that the speaker of the poem is unsympathetic towards the death of the man – in fact, sparing only one syllable to state that the man 'died' – and this reflects Owen's personal conception of the generals and upper authority's callous, unperturbed attitude towards the death of soldiers. Through using less words, syllables, lines and stanzas to express the events of War, it creates a sharper impact, and I get the sense that after trying to communicate the terror of war through his other, more obscure poems, 'The Last Laugh' is his eventual, desperate attempt to bluntly and clearly present the reality of War to the numbed audience at home.
Also, Owen uses clear para-rhymes at the end of the first 2 lines in each stanza, which bonds the initial two lines together. As generally there are no more para-rhymes in the rest of the stanza, the immediate 2 lines of each stanza therefore are made prominent. Another structural element which causes the first lines to stand out is the indentation of the last 3 lines in each stanza. The first 2 lines in each stanza are purposely made prominent by Owen as he want the audience to understand the significance of either the deaths of the soldiers or the villainous celebrations of the artillery, and to clearly distinguish between the opposing images. These clear methods also contribute to the simple scheme of the poem, so it aids the audience in understanding the poem. In a way, Owen is patronizing towards the audience in this poem, as if through Owen's more complex poems, the message Owen has been trying to communicate has not been received, so he has stooped to writing a very blunt poem, with a very straight-forward structure, so that the audience definitely understand.
Owen uses a narrative style for the poem, which accounts the events from the 1st person voice of the speaker. This type of poem allows the events to be illustrated effectively for the audience, which again helps to communicate the reality of war in a straightforward manner. The speaker narrates the deaths of the men rather insignificantly, as I mentioned before, and elaborates in rather more detail on the weaponry - 'And the splinters spat, and tittered'.Owen does not use any ambiguous language or complex concepts within the poem, opting for more lavish onomatopoeia of which the audience can almost interact with and already have a rich understanding of.
Owen's aim of the poem was to communicate, as effectively as possible, the reality of war – the fierce artillery, the callous attitudes, the insignificant deaths of soldiers – to the unaware audience at home. Using the narrative style and simple versification, Owen effectively presents War in a way that the audience can understand on all levels, and Owen tries to break the patriotic beliefs at home.
-David L
Insensibility
In insensibility Owen tells us that People at home are not aware about the incidents that do happen during the war and criticises them for it. Owen is also trying to tell us that the soldiers have to be unthinking and unconscious towards themselves which we get from the double meaning of the title and also suggests that the soldiers are all each other’s family. Owen also looks up on them with pity as he can understand and relate to the soldiers because of all the things they are going through. Owen is trying to tell us that the soldiers are fighting in this war and no one at home cares that they’re risking their lives to fight for what they believe in.
Throughout this poem the six stanzas it contains all of them have irregular metres. Also they’re a lot of para rhymes which gives us a depressing feeling and a down beat tone. Also throughout the poem there is rarely a rhyme giving us a sense of unhappiness towards war and the poem. In stanza three there is repetition of the word ‘happy’ which I think he is using as sarcasm as the poem seems to give us a down beat tone then to say happy makes us feel that everything is going to be okay and go on as normal. Owen also uses the third person narrative by using ‘we’ to describe to us how all of the soldiers are feeling and to also describe to us what they are all going through. Overall there’s quite a long stanza length with unequal lines and no rhyming scheme throughout the poem.
By Daniel Simmons
Disabled
Wilfred Owen uses different poetic techniques to support his intended meaning in his poem ‘Disabled’.
The first stanza out of the eight, follows unconventional methods making it difficult classify the structure of the whole poem, the first line ‘he sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for the dark.’ consists of iambic, iambic, trochee, trochee and then finishes of with an iambic stress, this is so the importance is fallen on the most important words in the sentence and so they are highlighted to the reader and are the most empathised.
Throughout ‘Disabled’ the sentence structure and rhyme scheme runs disorganised making it difficult to know what the next five stanzas would be like, the unpredictability of this causes the poem to be read at a different, pace with a different amount emotion. The length of each sentence in each stanza also decides the pace in which Owen wanted the reader to read the poem. It starts off with small three stanzas working towards one larger one and then two smaller ones like a big build up to the final climax, in which Owens message is conveyed.
The stars in between each stanza are ambiguous as they can represent a pause between each stanza, the tense in which everything is set or can be seen as flashbacks. As from the first stanza Owen shows a soldiers life at home now, after the war. To his memories back to his life before the war then back to him now and then the last stanza of what his life will be like in the future.
Overall the importance of the unpredictability of each stanza is required in this poem, as it helps the poem to be read at a different pace making the quality of each sentence in each stanza stand out and then the directed stress on each word to be presented to the reader.
Sameerah
‘Disabled’ is an elegiac sonnet that reflects the destroyed youth of soldiers who return from war. Owen uses a broken stanza structure and rhyme pattern to symbolise the physical and mental suffering of the young soldiers who return from war. The structure of the poem is not only visual but aural as well it prevents the reader to feel at ease when reading and seems to be very jumpy and uneven, again to symbolise the physical and mental condition of the soldiers. This approach is similar to others in the anthology such as insensibility where the unstable suffering of soldiers in the trenches is shown through the irregularity of the poem. However, I know that Owen was new to the idea of poetry at the time of writing these poems and was taught mainly by Sassoon this may have an effect on how intentional this structure is as he may not have fully understood how to write poetry accordingly at the time. This is one of Owen’s most successful poems in bringing reality to the unaware reader of how the ‘broken’ soldiers were looked upon by the public when they returned.
David K
The Last Laugh
Throughout this poem, Owen uses lots of personification to descirbe to the weaponary. He does this to give the weapon's viewpoint of war, which seems to be that it is all a big game to them. The use of black humour within this poem pokes fun at a subject that isn't funny, in this case the deaths of innocent men. For example by writing, "machine guns chuckled, tut tut- tut tut..." shows that the guns are having fun at the expense of dead soldiers. Additionally, Owen's use of onomatapeia, "tut-tut..." projects ambiguity. As well as being the voice of the guns, it could also be showing Owen's own disproval of war, as tut tut is an expression used to show distaste. This causes the audience to feel symapthy for the victims for war, and also provokes anger in them, as laughing at a subject as serious as war isn't seen as very respectabl especially to those who are patriotic, such as Jesse Pope who supports war.
By Aimee
strange meeting-mushiko
owen portrays clearly here that he regrets participating in the horrific slaughter.
he uses a transition point of two worlds were two dead soliders who are nolonger enemies are able to see beyond the conflict.this poem is a monologue,dialogue and narration is also used to help give a more clear diction.owen uses a dark solemn tone to convey the reader and the sheerpointlessness of war.
he succesfully uses a alot of metaphors to give the reader a clear picture of what he is talking about.
The last laugh -
In the last laugh, Wilfrid Owen uses personification of the weaponry and a narrative form structure to put forward the intended meaning which he has for this poem.
The personification of the weaponry is significant within the poem as it shows that dependent on the power of the weaponry it has, relates to the different personality it shows. In the first stanza it relates to the big machine guns which are shown to have "chuckled". This relates to the real world as when the machine guns were used upon soldiers, they ripped apart anything in its path, making an easy task for the person behind it. In the second stanza, the weapon subject moves to the shrapnel bombs. These are shown to be "lofty" and to move "leisurely" which relates to the real battle as the bombs couldn't be stopped and would obliterate anything it happened to be landing on which no soldier stood a chance against. In the final stanza, it speaks of the smaller guns and melee weapons of war such as the rifles and bayonets which "grinned". This shows that they were the more vicious of the weapons as they were close contact so therefore were more evil of the three.
The poem can also be split into two different ways of looking at the narrative which is used with the three stanzas. These two things are the ages of the soldiers or the different stages of dying that they were going through.
The first stanza relates to an older soldier who has seen more then his fair share. This can be shown where it states "whether he vainly cursed, or prayed indeed" Which puts forward an idea that he doesn't care any longer about what happens to him. The stanza also is in the stage where a soldier is just hit.
The second stanza I believe is a younger soldier who has possibly just joined. This is because in the poem it says "O Mother,- Mother, - Dad!". This proves him to be a younger soldier as while he is dying he thinks of nothing but his parents. From looking at this I think that it is in the stage of a soldier slowly dying.
The final stanza is most probably a middle aged soldier which can be seen as he relates to "My love" which suggest he is married and has someone to love at home. This last stanza is the sage of death as it states " his whole face kissed the mud".
In my opinion, I believe that Wilfrid Owen has laid his poem out in this way it gave the readers, people at home, more of an understanding of what the soldiers were actually being put through whilst fighting the "glorious war" which the media and government so proudly praised.
Javen =)
Owen presents an overall light-hearted tone in "the last laugh", using a series of black humour to portray an unusual point of view on death.
The poem consists of 3 even staza's, which are made up of regular plines of pentameter. this is unusual as pentameter helps a poem to flow, with a more happy sence of tone and rhythem, not particularily asociated with the theme of death. owen uses an acumberance of personification within the poen to project a series of characters through the weapons. "And the lofty Shrapnel-cloud
Leisurely gestured,-Fool!" also the use of pentameter makes the reader/ speaker appear to me unsympathetic and unresponsive. this is portrayed by the poem sounding ironic/ sarcastic, "'Oh! Jesus Christ! I'm hit,' he said; and died". which gives us the impression that owen did this so we get an understanding of how the people of the homefront reacted towards soldiers.
The varse use of pararhymes concludes to the poems blunt and straight- to- the- point feel. with the stanza's made of only 5 lines makes it simply and eaxsier to understand for the audiance's perspective.Prior to this though, is the fact that the first line of each stanza includes speech, or a voice. Which makes them lines more considerable than any other. Owens style of narration through out "the last laugh", differs from any other of his poems. this becomes most aparent at the fact that within the poem there are 3 voices. the narrator, which is in 1st person and makes the poem and reader bond, and making the imagery and reality of war more aparent. the weapons, and the soldiers also have their own voices, which identifys the weapons importance within war and adds more detail to the horrific imagery they portray, "Machine-guns chuckled,-Tut-tut! Tut-tut!"
. This is what gives the poem it's unique figure of narration.
owen overall demonstrates war as a conflict between soldiers and weapons, showing that weapons are more powerful than the human body. it also gives the reader a sense that war can be stoped, and by expressing this in a way that is very unreal, all the sudden shines the reality of what war is really like. For example, the title of the poem, " the last laugh" is very sardonic and witty, and imediatley people realise, war is not as humoured as portrayed in the poem. and this is what owen was trying to share with the unfamiliar.
By Amy-Rose
The poem Disabled stands out to me as a poem that uses a lot of good poetic techniques to support the intended meaning that the poet had put into place.
Disabled is a poem that describes the injuries of a young solider and that he is unable to be the young boy he was before he went off to war.
The poem uses pathos throughout to make a high amount of emotion and to make the reader feel pity and sorrow for the young injured solider, But Owen uses a great amount of techniques to add to this. A clear technique that is used by Owen is the varied stanza length and the broken stanza structure that makes the poem look unorganised and symbolises the physical and mental suffering of the soldier who has returned from the war. Using these techniques makes the reader feel uncomfortable and unsure as the poem could change at any time.
Owen has also chosen not to have a perfect rhyme scheme, but does choose ,to use heavy half rhyme in the first stanza and towards the end where it goes back to the heavy half rhyme scheme.
Wilfred Owen also has decided to use three stars at the end of each stanza, this adds to the intended meaning of the poem because they could represent the movement of past reflections or the different images that the solider is thinking.
Finally Owen uses repetition in the last stanza on the line “Why don’t they come” this add a high amount of tension and feels as if the poem is finishing on a cliff hanger.
Anthem for Doomed youth
The verses in this poem are in the form of a Petrachan or Italian sonnet with fourteen lines in the poem. The first stanza has eight lines (octave) and is in form of a question. It is asking the question if the soldiers will be helped by religion or if they even get a funeral or any other religious sent off which will ensure they souls are being put at rest. They don’t get any funeral or last act of respects. The second stanza has six lines (sestet) and concludes the mood with how they family will mourn for them and say they last goodbyes. The rhyme scheme is a,b,a,b,c,d,c,d in the first stanza, and a,b,b,a,c,c in the second stanza, which are the styles of sonnets. Wilfred Owen chose to do this to oppose the question of if soldiers do die in the ways they religious beliefs says they should and answers this by saying there will not be a glimmer of religious relieve and only will leave behind sad families who will be mourning. He conveys this with the use of figurative and literal language.
Joseph Nathan
Reflection on Form and Versification for Dulce et Decorum est.
Dulce is a patrachan style sonnet, that follows the A,B,A,B,C,D,C,D rhyme scheme. Owen uses the control of pace and tempo in the opening stanza to reflect the events the speaker is telling us about. The negative language and slow pace helps to emphasize the fatigue, boredom and inner fear of the soldiers. Owen also uses metaphors in his opening stanza, such as '...drunk with fatigue.' to help us sympathize with the speaker and soldiers. We know people cannot get drunk on exhaustion, but it gives us an idea of how much they have been through.
However, the sympathy isn’t shown in the second stanza as the pace picks up and the poem becomes more upbeat and lively. This excitement may be negative but the reader feel engaged with the action through the use of Owens language. Owen also uses alliteration, 'Gas Gas, quick boys'. This hissing of the S reflects the gas in the trench, making the reader feel closer to the action.
The third stanza brings the mood back down and we regain the sympathetic feeling we had before. The speaker addresses the audience and uses works like 'you' and 'my friend', making the audience feel they are responsible for what had gone on.
Owens use of versification in Dulce et Decorum est helps the reader to grasp the concepts he is talking about within the poem. By making the readers feel closer to the action, they feel sympathetic and almost guilty because they are unable to help the soldiers in their time of desperation and need.
Sam Ellis.
Owen uses form and versificationn in the show how the show how war is the sickness of the world, by useing a birdeye view we see in each verse how war destroys the body of the earth. The verses of the poem start off 4 lines long, and explain how the war is covered with sickness and sours though the eyes of someone who isnt sure why they are their and havnt been tainted by the sickness.
after this point the lines of each verse reduce, owen does this to help get across the damage that war does, and what affect it has on the creatures, AKA the soliders.
The form of the poem is free verse, this is used to show the hoe the eyes of the person who is seeing this is free and is not being contolled by the war, and that they are atually seeing things the way that they are.
The language of the poem, is used to show how low the soliders have become as they are discribed as caterpillers.
Sarah
Disabled- Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen presents disabled as a place not fit for young soldiers, who have their whole life ahead of them, and that injuries inflicted in war are problematic throughout their whole life not just during wartime. Owen uses form and verse to present his view and compliment the intended meaning. In disabled Owen uses a broken structure and rhyming pattern to symbolise the suffering, both mentally and physically, of the young soldiers. Another poem that Owen presents this view in is Insensibility. In insensibility Owen presents the trenches using an irregular pattern to symbolise the suffering of the young soldiers. The poem is a very irregular and uneven pattern which allows the reader to digest the information and emotion and letting the reader form a judgment.
Owen uses a caesura to halt the poem and allow the reader to digest and understand and empathise the young soldiers who have gone to war to fight for a patriotic and just cause. This allows the reader to feel for the young soldiers and to feel emotion especially sorrow to them because of the pushing patriotic beliefs of society. This is Owen criticising the military system and suggesting that young soldiers should not be fighting in a war.
Owen uses enjambment to portray the keenness of the young soldiers wanting to fight in the war. The way that Owen lets the line follow on shows keenness as there is no stop in the line, this implies that the soldiers are wanting to fight as Owen is letting the line flow which indicates willingness to do something, in this case it is fighting in the war. As the young soldier is fighting for the young girl, he wants to seem eager and powerful, so joins up without a hesitation. However the end stop at the end of the line “Aye that was it, to please his giddy jilts, He asked to join up, He didn’t have to beg.” suggest that after the young soldier has signed up he regrets it. Owen presents this as showing that the young soldier believes that he has just signed his life over to the devil, as the end line represents a halt or stop at the end of the line which shows also shows the ending or regret of a life.
The tone represents the tidings of war as an emotional and physical regret. The young soldiers seem to sign up to fight and make a difference but in the end the people back home will never see him again. Owen reflects this back to his poetic meaning where young people should not be involved in conflict and warfare.
As Owen was inspired by Sassoon I believe that the way in which Owen wanted to portray his work was not fully perceived as Sassoon may have encouraged him to write his poems in a certain way. The shortness of some of the stanzas represents the discomfort and worries of a young soldier, but would be achieved by all soldiers, which may have been in the writing and knowledge of Sassoon which Owen would relate to as he also fought in the war.
By Ross George
Futility:
In futility Owen uses popular conceits to question the point of being born-lifes futility and/or the futility of war. Owen feels it is pointless being born just to be killed again in war and wonders if that is the reason God created us.
Throughout the poem Owen's tone is very calm, making numerous references to calm, natural elements-"...into the sun...whispering of feilds half sown...and this snow...the kind old sun...". This calmness is reflected in Owens regular rythm, created by the even length of the stanza lines.
Owens use of third person also makes the account seem more personal. When Owen writes "Move him into the sun-" the dash draws the reader in as it creates a pause, invites the reader to stop and wonder why they are doing it. This creates a feeling of pathos in the reader as they then realise that the narrator is talking about moving an injured (possibly dead) body/soldier into the sun.
This contributes to Owens intended meaning of the poem as I think he has written it in the form of a parable, illustrating his point of the negative impacts of war, and the uselessness of it.
Lauren
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